The Importance of Air Circulation in your Vancouver Home

Cold air return grill

When it comes to a comfortable heating system good air circulation is essential. 

  

Unfortunately most Vancouver homes have been designed with inadequate cold air returns incorporated into their forced air heating systems. 

The cold air return is the plenum that carries air from large return grills in your home back to the furnace for reheating. If a home lacks sufficient cold air returns, air circulation will be decreased while comfort and air quality will be lessened.

A sure sign of poor air circulation is cold air pockets in the winter and hotter areas of the house in summer. As well as being important to your heating, good air circulation can help keep your home cool and comfortable in the summer when you have the furnace blower running.

The difficulty of adding more return air to your Vancouver house greatly depends on the structure of your home. That being said, if there is a will, there is a way and ducting can be added if it is truly needed.

High Efficiency Furnace Vancouver

Ask around Vancouver and you'll find high efficiency furnaces are very popular these days. This is chiefly because of green initiatives, government rebates, and the long-term savings you can experience.
High efficiency furnaces in Vancouver have become the only logical choice, especially with the continuing rise in gas prices. 

New high efficiency furnaces are 90 to 97 per cent efficient. Put simply, a furnace at the high end of this range converts around 97 percent of the combusted natural gas to usable energy. By comparison, many of the older homes in Vancouver have dated furnaces that are only about 60 percent efficient. This means that 40 percent of the gas you purchase from Fortis to heat our home is wasted. If your old furnace is also over sized the loses could be even greater.

A high efficiency furnace with a variable speed motor is even more efficient. It will run quieter and should make your home more cozy with its ability to maintain a more even constant temperature.
Although a high efficiency furnace is a sizable investment, the long term savings and increased comfort leave most people very satisfied in their decision to upgrade when the time comes.